We have played The Sims Online together, my avatar is MaxisLuc (yes, I work for Maxis/EA.) I wanted you to know that at the beginning of last year, I assembled a team to improve The Sims Online. After months of ongoing hard work, we can proudly say that we have been successful and we have made this game fun again! I am writing to you because I would like to invite you to rejoin us in the game. You can come back for free right now by REACTIVATING your old account at this page http://ea-land.ea.com/register/free.php and then by downloading the game from the same link. Most likely, your Sim is no more, but if you come back to the game this month, you will get your earned privileges back (gifts, skill locks etc. in EA-Land) when we run our amnesty program at the end of the month. Today you can play for free in our test city called 'Test-Center 3', in a few days you will be able to also play for Free in the 'EA-Land' city.

EA-Land will host all of The Sims Online cities.

The Sims Online was made of 12 different cities (AlphaVille, Blazing Falls, etc..) and we are moving all of those cities inside EA-Land (this is called 'the merge' by the users!). We have a huge new map: it is 100 times bigger than the previous size of any city. We had to add a whole new zoom level to let users see it. The internet is faster now, so we have been able to let each house have more simultaneous visitors. A lot of new users are constantly joining us and we expect more. As you have played TSO before, I think that you ought to own your lot in this new land, and I want you to have the ability to grab the best location before we open the gates. As an EA-Land subscriber, you will be able to have several Sims in the same 'city' unlike in TSO where you were limited to one Sim per city.

RE-designed with Smart Users

We have a blog (http://www.tso-e.com ) where we explain all the things we are working on and the events we are running in the game. We also have a very active wiki web site (http://www.game-blueprints.com ) managed by the community where you can work with others to design the game. We have already implemented many features designed by the users! The stratics forum community continues to be very active. We have made some big changes to the game, and many more are coming over the next few months. It is difficult to say which of the recent changes are the most important as users have different reasons to play the game, but let me tell you about the changes that I particularly like:

Custom Content

Users now have the ability to upload custom content. Like in the original Sims game, the goal is to let you customize the game completely, but in EA-Land you can see and buy the customizations of the other players! Players have already uploaded several thousands pieces of custom content. I suspect that by some time this year, all of the content of the game will have been replaced many times over by custom content. We started with the ability to upload bitmaps (easiest for the new creative users), then moved on to chairs and sculptures. You can now make your own portraits in the game and "skin" objects like in Sims2 by using your own images. Because we are approving all of the content, this user content is safe to be viewed by everyone! We are working with the main user web sites that have been providing custom content to the Sims users for years (e.g. http://www.TheSimsResource.com) to make sure that their content will be made available in the game.

New Economy

We heard from the community that the economy was broken in TSO. That was true, too many users were billionaires, and the goal of the game was mostly about extracting money from Maxis. I can now say with satisfaction that we have fixed the economy on EA-Land. This took many features, from establishing a real estate market, where users can easily buy or sell lots to one another, and a dynamic object pricing market where the prices of objects purchased from Maxis is based on supply and demand, enabling stores and entrepreneurs to earn a living. We also enabled users to buy simoleans directly from Maxis. While there is no need for users to do so in the game (we give subscribers simoleans every week), it can help new users build their dream house faster with a simple paypal transaction secured by us.

I don't know if I'd put a lot of confidence in that site at the moment because isn't it still under construction?

I would think that something that important would be up on TSO-E to allow us to think about what we want to do.

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What does the site still being under construction have to with the validity of the information already there? Are you thinking that the info is subject to change after the site becomes fully functional? Though I do believe a re-post of it on the blog or here would have been good to inform those customers that did not even know that site existed (raises hand, I get all my info from these other 3 sites LOL).

I just got my trees on one account today a few days late. I got all of them in the normal cities bf and cc. But I did not get one in ea land or tc3. The one in ea land was moved from av. Whats up with that? Will the amnesty thing give me the ones that are owed to me in ea land and tc3? One of my sims in ea land was moved from av. I dont think its fair that someone that has played for 2 years gets 1 tree for every sim on that account. But then some wont if they moved to ea land before they got there trees. Then after they moved the 2 years were up and they now only get 2 trees itstead of 4 they are owed. Any thoughts on this or help would be great.

Do I get all my gifts via amnesty automatically even on free accounts, or do I need to pay on them for at least a month to get the goodies?

Do I get the gifts on accounts I DIDN'T cancel, but that I also registered via the email's link, or is this strictly a promotion to get old accounts to sign up again?

Are these gifts transferable between my various accounts so that I just have one sim with all my stuff instead of scattering my stuff all over the game?

Can I sell them to other sims?

When will the simoleans to US dollars thing be functional?

Any idea on the exchange rate on that?

Can I salvage any of those gifts, and make a YouTube video about it, just to upset all the newbies and TSO-fans when they think they're clicking on a link of scantily-clad celebrity-girls dancing drunkenly?

I just got my trees on one account today a few days late. I got all of them in the normal cities bf and cc. But I did not get one in ea land or tc3. The one in ea land was moved from av. Whats up with that? Will the amnesty thing give me the ones that are owed to me in ea land and tc3? One of my sims in ea land was moved from av. I dont think its fair that someone that has played for 2 years gets 1 tree for every sim on that account. But then some wont if they moved to ea land before they got there trees. Then after they moved the 2 years were up and they now only get 2 trees itstead of 4 they are owed. Any thoughts on this or help would be great.

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Just another scheme to upset another group of players, which I will be one of those on Friday, or shortly thereafter when my EALand transferred sim does not receive its tree. Thank you in advance Dev. team for handing out trees to memebers of the famous and imfamous list, but neglecting sims that reach their 2 year anniversary date. Thats totally fricking awesome if you ask me.

If you check your other sims on the account that is due for the trees. If they are not in ea land or tc3 you will see or should see you have them. Mine were a few days late. But I still havent got the one in ea land or tc3 for those sims on that account. Ive tried all over sent emails sent in game IM's and all that. No answer no help. Would be nice We pay to play this game we should get our gifts when they were to be given. And in the same way as anyone else that has played and paid for 2 years. They all got there trees, one for every sim on that account. I dont see why we dont now because of ea land. Shouldnt matter if its in ea land, tc3 or where ever. I hope they get this fixed soon. A two year wait just to get screwed out of 2 or 3 trees. If thats how they are going to be then they should take 2 or 3 trees away from everyone.

I just got my trees on one account today a few days late. I got all of them in the normal cities bf and cc. But I did not get one in ea land or tc3. The one in ea land was moved from av. Whats up with that? Will the amnesty thing give me the ones that are owed to me in ea land and tc3? One of my sims in ea land was moved from av. I dont think its fair that someone that has played for 2 years gets 1 tree for every sim on that account. But then some wont if they moved to ea land before they got there trees. Then after they moved the 2 years were up and they now only get 2 trees itstead of 4 they are owed. Any thoughts on this or help would be great.

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Just another scheme to upset another group of players, which I will be one of those on Friday, or shortly thereafter when my EALand transferred sim does not receive its tree. Thank you in advance Dev. team for handing out trees to memebers of the famous and imfamous list, but neglecting sims that reach their 2 year anniversary date. Thats totally fricking awesome if you ask me.

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Yeah, I'm not really a fan of the 'famous' lists either being as the lists have been broken in MF for years. There'll probably be more contests to win more items maybe.

My 3 year olds didn't get their campfires but I'm not going to sweat it cause they'll be handed out before long, probably after they close down the production cities and get everyone merged....which is quickly approaching.

I just wanna know how the amnesty is going to work. Will this just be for returning players? Will all the accounts get aged and 'locks' per their entitlement time?

If I want to change a few sims, should I delete them and recreate them now before the amnesty so they'd get included?

I hope the devs start a stickied thread outlining the details of the amnesty.

(Is it a problem also that some of us did not get the email? My accounts are all in good standing, is that why I didn't get it?)

I consider myself in with some of the elders and I know I didn't get one.

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By "old" he means 'departed from the game'. Those players who left are being encouraged to return. In an earlier post (somewhere, hell IDK where) Lee said he would make an effort to not spam current subscribers with this e-mail.

That's where I'm confused too - my interpretation of this 'amnesty' is that it only affects players who have been deactivated for awhile, as a means of encouraging them to return to the game. What about us old-timers? Mind you, I only came back to the game 2 years ago after a 3 year hiatus. Reactivated my old Founders account, and of course had to start all over again - lost simmies, statues, etc., on that account. Will the amnesty affect these type of players too?

HEY! Does this mean we will finally get our skill locks based on account age, not sim age?? OoOoOo I hope so lol....

That's where I'm confused too - my interpretation of this 'amnesty' is that it only affects players who have been deactivated for awhile, as a means of encouraging them to return to the game. What about us old-timers? Mind you, I only came back to the game 2 years ago after a 3 year hiatus. Reactivated my old Founders account, and of course had to start all over again - lost simmies, statues, etc., on that account. Will the amnesty affect these type of players too?

HEY! Does this mean we will finally get our skill locks based on account age, not sim age?? OoOoOo I hope so lol....

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The "amnesty" includes all accounts that are active at the time the amnesty takes place (The date is on the e-mail/website), including all current and returning accounts.

Yeah, I'm not really a fan of the 'famous' lists either being as the lists have been broken in MF for years. There'll probably be more contests to win more items maybe.

My 3 year olds didn't get their campfires but I'm not going to sweat it cause they'll be handed out before long, probably after they close down the production cities and get everyone merged....which is quickly approaching.

I just wanna know how the amnesty is going to work. Will this just be for returning players? Will all the accounts get aged and 'locks' per their entitlement time?

If I want to change a few sims, should I delete them and recreate them now before the amnesty so they'd get included?

I hope the devs start a stickied thread outlining the details of the amnesty.

(Is it a problem also that some of us did not get the email? My accounts are all in good standing, is that why I didn't get it?)

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Very good question!!!! I would love to see us get our entitlement time turned into locks. That would make alot of us happy happy happy LOL.

When will all these questions be answered? It seems that everything is still up in the air.

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I talked to Lee this afternoon about 2/3 of my sims getting trees this weekend. From the conversation, entitlement time will determine redistribution of gifts. If entitlement time is over 365, you will receive statues, entitlement time over 730 days, you will receive mystic trees. Although only 2 of my sims received trees this weekend, when they redistribute gifts through amnesty, all three sims will receive trees. I didnt ask if EALand sims were included, but in my situation, one of the sims was already in EALand that did not receive a tree this time, but will when they get handed out again. So with 3 production sims and one EALand sim, I am expecting 4 sets of anniversary gifts, based on entitlement. Hope this helps.

If entitlement time is over 365, you will receive statues, entitlement time over 730 days, you will receive mystic trees.

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DOH I will miss my tree by only 44 days!

Now what I am wondering is... if I reactivated my aco**** and am NOT paying for it.... will the number of days keep counting for my account or is it still only going to be what you payed for? Reason I am asking, is that I noticed that my entitlement days keeps going up... NOT that I am complaining LOL... Just wondering if that means I could still be due for my tree in another 44 days! Or, would I have to actually start paying for my account again?

Reactivate with paying account through TSO first &amp; THEN apply for EA-Land. I re-read that email a bit more careful like &amp; then I read FYI in above threads &amp; came to that grand conclusion. Reading *IS* knowledge!

Although I now have another issue I'm not quite sure about:

I did the reactivating with TSO but when I went to register for EA-Land the link did not work. My account is wiped clean of sims &amp; I'm worried that if I make more sims to play in the interum that my old sims will not be restored.

Am I making this far more complicated than it needs to be? Just how exactly does this work?

From the way I see it, The Amnesty will give you your skill locks and any gifts you are due. Going by total time paid on the account. If you played 2 years ago. Then stopped playing canceled the account or whatever. The way I see it is those sims and houses are gone. Also any rare items you had and so on. If your account was say almost 2 years old. But you canceled it before you were due for your trees. You start it back up you make your new sims in time. And you should get all your gifts due for being 2 years old ,when that account has a total of 2 years paid. Your 1 year pet statues for being a year old, and then your trees for being 2 years. Also you will get skill locks based on total time the account was active. Anyways thats how I see it. Im not sure if that is how its going to be or not. Or another way I played for 4 years say with X account. I stopped playing and didnt play for a year or so. Now I want to start playing again. I start up the account and make new sims. If it was 4 years old when I canceled it. I should get all the gifts That i got in those 4 years back also skill locks.
Well I kind of ran on a bit sorry for that.

did the reactivating with TSO but when I went to register for EA-Land the link did not work. My account is wiped clean of sims &amp; I'm worried that if I make more sims to play in the interum that my old sims will not be restored.

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hi Mahrya
The way i understand how the website https://ea-land.ea.com/ has it written is that it does not matter that all your sims have now gone but you will recieve your gifts because your account is so many days old and your new sims will recieve the gifts nothing has been said about them bringing back old sims from the dead so it would be wise to assume they will not unless of course a Dev wants to tell us otherwise.

The question for the Devs i have is will us founders that have rejoined be getting our simmies back?
And can i get a robocat for free rofl please will love you forever please rofl.

hi Mahrya
The way i understand how the website https://ea-land.ea.com/ has it written is that it does not matter that all your sims have now gone but you will recieve your gifts because your account is so many days old and your new sims will recieve the gifts nothing has been said about them bringing back old sims from the dead so it would be wise to assume they will not unless of course a Dev wants to tell us otherwise.

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OoOotay... I was thinking that as well at one point but wasn't sure. Makes sense. Thank you for your input. Hope you get your robocat!

I asked one of the devs at Town Hall the other day about getting simmies. The answer was "yes". We get the simmies if we are founders and also all the anniversary gifts according to account age!!! YAY!!!

If you don't pay, do you still get your stuff, just on a sim stuck in TC3?

If your stuff gets stuck on a TC3 sim, can you move the TC3 sim to EALand upon payment, or are you out of luck -- you should have given us your lunch money when we told you to?

If you do pay, but due to billing issues your payment hasn't kicked in yet as you've still got some of the 14-days-for-free to whittle down, and despite entering your credit card info to get charged after the 14 days, the day they actually give the stuff out falls within the 14-day free-trial and not after the day your card is charged...do you still get the stuff?

Do you need to have sims pre-created and in existence on the day they give the gifts, or, if you've paid them their graft I mean subscription reactivation fee will you get your items even if you don't create your sims until after the day the gifts are given out?

Using trees as an example of a gift, will you be getting:
- Five trees, one for each of the sims you can make in EALand
- Only the old-style three (one per sim per account)
- One tree per account period
- Nothing because we hatez u

If you have an already existing sim who already has one or more of the items, will they still get an additional amnesty item placed in their inventory?

Are these items transferable?
- Only the sim that got it can use it
- You can only trade it to another sim on the same account
- You can trade it to sims on other accounts so long as all accounts are on the same credit card
- You can trade it freely like any other object

Can you salvage a gift item?

Why have my emails to the dev team gone unanswered?

Why haven't any members of the dev team popped their heads in here to at least say "we're working on it" ?

Er Billy you might want to cut back on the caffiene seriously lol.
i would assume the gifts will be transferable considering all the others are, otherwise that means creating an entirely new object obviously not from scratch but it would have to be re coded to make in non transferable.
Why would you want to salvage them to begin with? if you dont want them i will be more than happy to take them off your hands for free ROFL.
I hope they do give them to every sim and not just one for the account.

I just renewed my Ea-land account and i have 740 days entitled to me will i also be included in amnesty ? i dident get a emailand will i get all previous gifts or just one? And my skill locks?Will i get my old sims back?

Er Billy you might want to cut back on the caffiene seriously lol.
i would assume the gifts will be transferable considering all the others are, otherwise that means creating an entirely new object obviously not from scratch but it would have to be re coded to make in non transferable.
Why would you want to salvage them to begin with? if you dont want them i will be more than happy to take them off your hands for free ROFL.
I hope they do give them to every sim and not just one for the account.

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I hope every sim on the eligible account gets the gifts too. I've got 8 sims on my main account...hope to get 8 colored cannons...lol

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